A $195.36 million budget for fiscal 2009-'10 has been adopted by
the Marana Town Council, but not before one final conversation
about tuition reimbursements for town employees who take college
courses.

Tuition reimbursement was a $30,000 line item in the current
year's budget. In an effort to save money, Marana had decided to
eliminate tuition reimbursement in the fiscal year that begins July
1.

Dianne VanHorn, crime prevention specialist in the Marana Police
Department, told the council on June 23 she has earned 20 hours of
college credit with the help of tuition reimbursement. "I
appreciate it, and thank you for making it available," Van Horn
said.

She urged its continuation.

"As a council, you've demonstrated you understand the importance
of this," Van Horn said. Employee tuition is reimbursed to a capped
amount, and the town is specific about the classes it is willing to
support. "It's really related to what we do here. It's an
investment in your employees, and in the town's future."

"We cannot lose this benefit," said Councilwoman Roxanne
Ziegler, who asked the council to consider the funding one more
time. "We're willing to spend $75,000 for a fireworks display, and
I understand that's for the whole community, but it's not the job
of the town to entertain its citizens. Personally, to me, it's more
important to have an education.

"We're always saying our employees are our best asset," Ziegler
said. "We're talking about it, but not showing it. I can't believe
we can't pull from someplace else to do this."

Deb Thalasitis, assistant town manager, said staff made a change
in the tuition reimbursement line item between the adoption of the
tentative budget June 2 and the final budget consideration June
23.

"Based very much on some of the concerns you expressed,"
Thalasitis told Ziegler, $12,000 was restored to the budget for
employee tuition reimbursement. Staff believes further education
may be needed for employees who transfer from one position to
another under Marana's worker recession assignment plan, in which
people can move to newly vacated positions in an effort to reduce
force.

"We talked about a tuition reimbursement if employees needed
further training" for newly assumed positions, Thalasitis said, and
funds were restored to address the tuition reimbursement needs of
those workers.

Ziegler cast the lone vote against the budget, citing the
reduced tuition commitment.

The budget includes a reduction in staff of 20 full-time
equivalents, from 367 FTEs to 347 FTEs in the new fiscal year that
begins July 1.

Council fills committee seat, but wonders about the
timing

Town studying its process for appointment; utility board
had a vacancy and needed a quorum

Laura Trostman was appointed to the Marana Water Utility
Advisory Committee last Tuesday, and David Wostenberg was named an
alternate to the panel.

Such appointments are often so perfunctory they wind up on the
Marana Town Council's consent agenda, with no discussion.

Not this time, and the talk had nothing to do with the
candidates. At issue was Marana's process of appointing people to
town boards and commissions. That procedure is being examined by a
task force of elected officials and town staff, and it's not
completed.

"Why are they bringing a person to us when we haven't finished
that process yet?" asked councilwoman Patti Comerford.

It's coming up, councilwoman Roxanne Ziegler responded, because
the utility advisory committee has had difficulty achieving quorum
of late. "It could be another two, three, four months before we get
through this process," Ziegler said, but a vacancy is immediate.
Ziegler asked for the appointment so a quorum can be assembled.

Town attorney Frank Cassidy took responsibility for bringing the
appointment forward before the task force finishes its work.

"Has the process" of seeking committee members been
"transparent, and open to everyone available?" Comerford asked.
"This is not anything to do with who's applying and whether they're
qualified or not. This has to do with due process."

"I'm not sure why we're struggling so much," Ziegler said. "I
understand the need to have due process. I'm not sure why we're
trying to fix the world right now."

In the end, Ziegler moved for the appointments. The vote in
favor was 3-2, with Ziegler, Vice Mayor Herb Kai and Mayor Ed Honea
in favor. Voting against were Comerford and Russell Clanagan. Carol
McGorray abstained; Jon Post was away on an excused absence.